2025 Anna Larson – Bountiful HS

By Small and Simple Things are Great Things Brought to Pass

I am a high school senior and am so excited for this next chapter in my life. I haven’t always felt that way and I still have some anxieties that I am trying to overcome, but I know that I can. When I was in sixth grade I was diagnosed with OCD and Anxiety. For a few months I was in the intensive outpatient program at the OCD and Anxiety Clinic. It was day after day of going and facing my fears. In the moment it almost felt like too much, like I didn’t know if I could possibly be able to overcome all those fears. However, looking back now, I see that it was such a good opportunity. It taught me so many skills to cope with my anxiety that I still use every single day. They are not easy by any means, but they do make a difference. Some of the tools I learned from the clinic were mindfulness, exposure therapy, and riding the wave. They may seem like simple or silly things, but I know from personal experience that they are so much more, and that they can bring about great success if done regularly.

As I got into junior high and high school, my life changed tremendously. Not necessarily in a bad way, but in a big way, nonetheless. All my siblings are much older than me and so they all were moved out by the time I was in seventh grade. They are all married now and have kids which has been such a huge blessing in my life, but in the moments of all these big changes they scared me. Suddenly, I didn’t have my best friends living with me and they were all finding their own best friends to marry. This caused me to feel lonely and I saw my anxiety start to come up again. This is when I decided that I wanted to change my life and the way I saw it. My mom has always told me that simple consistent efforts can seriously pay off and I fully believe this.

The way I have tried to cope with my anxiety is by doing many small things that stacked on top of each other can really be beneficial to me. I agreed to go to therapy, which was a big feat for me because I didn’t love telling people about my anxiety because I felt they would think of me differently. My therapist was so good to me and helped me realize that it is normal to have anxieties and these feelings of fear and worry. He made me feel like I was just the same as everyone else and was interested in getting to know me because of who I was as a person, not as what I was struggling with. He gave me things to work on every week that would make it easier for me to let my anxieties not affect me as much. These were small things like reading my scriptures because they bring me peace, talking to my parents about what I am feeling, and going to my happy places. I also have strived to do things that I know bring me joy. Some of these are getting outside, exercising, serving others, finding things to be grateful for, and deep breathing. I do these because I know that if I can feel joy doing something, then when I am having a hard time, I can think back on that feeling and know that I can feel it again.

I know that even though I still struggle most days, I can cope better because of all the skills I have learned. Sometimes I don’t have the motivation to do the things I know will help, but I know that if I just keep going and just keep trying I can and will succeed. I also feel so much better when I speak and think in hopeful ways. I want to truly believe that I can do anything and that with hard work and small consistent efforts I will do so much good in my life. I want to share with everyone that you can do it and that there are things out there to help you. It is always okay to get help from professionals. I did. But it is also so good to find the things that you can do to bring joy into your life.